This Thermal Sticker Printer Is My Tech ‘Upgrade of the Year’

You have no idea how many times I've seen this over the past few years. mini thermal printers existed, thought about getting it, and then decided: no, it's too stupid and I'll never use it. Friends, I finally gave in and my only regret is that I didn't get it sooner. I only had this tiny gadget about a month, but in my house it began to be used daily. In the lead up to Christmas I use it to print gift tags and labels. I use special stickers to create charts in my workout journal, and they have even become the centerpiece of an Elf on the Shelf interaction with my daughter. (Yes, she still claims to believe, perhaps just for fun. Let's see what I come up with next— despair is the mother of creativity.)

I'm the kind of person who enjoys physical objects, especially paper and notepads, but for some reason I'm always glued to my phone. Being able to print something keeps me in the real world, especially if I can do something on paper (or a sticker) that I would normally do with an app.

What is a thermal label printer?

You've seen it before, even if you don't realize it. The receipts you receive at most grocery stores and other big box stores are thermally printed; the same can be said for the array of barcode and ingredient labels that can be placed on, say, a rotisserie chicken or a box of baked goods.

They are printed “thermally” because they do not contain ink. Instead, receipts or labels are made from coated paper that darkens when exposed to heat. The printer simply heats the appropriate areas of the paper as it exits the machine.

Stores love these printers because the technology is old and cheap, the paper is cheap, you don't have to refill the ink, and receipts and labels print quickly. It doesn't really matter that the result is black and white and low resolution; we don't use them for fine art.

These are the features I also like in my mini version. The printer itself was only $25 on Black Friday, and the rolls of paper will last forever. only cost about a dollar each. On the contrary, I also have full color mini photo printer which uses Zinc paperand the opposite is true: expensive paper, slow printing and terrible battery life. The prints look pretty good, but due to these shortcomings I hardly use it. Meanwhile, I use a thermal printer all the time.

Why is this useful?

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First, I finally put proper labels on the candy I give as gifts every Christmas, with ingredients and everything. In past years I wanted but then I'll have to figure out how to create the label and what to print it on, and then I'll have to have the kid cut them out, glue them, or tie them – none of that is hard, but it's just one more thing. This year I will type the label into the app and just print it out.

A printer application called Fomemoeasy to use, although you'll have to avoid a lot of “premium” features. You can quickly print any text, any photo from your camera roll, or select pictures from a library and templates. Once I know what I want to print, I can design and print the label in seconds.

So I use the printer all the time for anything that's a little more complex than writing a few words with a Sharpie, but not necessarily an entire production where you buy or make the right label or information sheet.

For example, I printed out a table of knitting needle sizes and attached it to the case where I keep my knitting needles. I printed out a 2 x 10 grid to track my workout of 10 sets of 2 exercises. (I stick it in my workout log and then mark my sets as I do them. I used to draw the boxes by hand, but one day I ended a workout early because I got the math wrong. The sticker keeps me from making mistakes.)

Sure, I could find a needle size chart or save my workout data in the app. But having this information in a physical paper format prevents me from using my phone at those very moments when I'm trying to disconnect from the network.

How fun is this

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This is where children come to the rescue. In particular, my youngest, who immediately printed out stickers for herself and her friends. (Since paper is so cheap, I don't mind giving her Bluetooth access from her own device—she can go to town.)

This is the same girl who insists on believing in the Elf on the Shelf every year even though she knows I'm Santa. You can remember that I don't let the elf “get into trouble” and “make a mess” and instead look for cleaner antics with less effort. Having an elf write notes to my baby is always a hit, so last December I wrote tiny notes with a tiny pen and then hid my supplies. This year, she was thinking of using a printer to write a note to the elf, and then I just had to make up a story about the elf having a secret phone that she can use to connect and print replies.

This way I can do every night elf trick in a matter of minutes. I turn on the printer, print out the note, and (if necessary) move the elf to another shelf or something. My child and the elf have been on a scavenger hunt, drawing pictures for each other, and will be writing poetry to each other tonight. I love her work and she saves all the notes. There is something special about a physical reminder of something ephemeral.